Changes In Store for California HOA Elections

With 2020 fast approaching, California HOAs should be proactively preparing to comply with a litany of new statutorily mandated changes to their election processes. On October 12, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 323 into law resulting in amendments to multiple sections of the California Civil Code regulations governing HOA elections. These changes become effective January 1, 2020.

Among the more significant substantive changes are specific standards HOAs may use to disqualify candidates from running, such as ineligibility of persons with certain past criminal convictions. Also, in order for an HOA to allow for board member acclamation – meaning there are more open positions than nominees and the nominees simply take the board seats – an HOA needs to have at least 6,000 units! HOAs may no longer suspend any member’s voting rights for any reason other than not being a member. Finally, in addition to limiting who may serve as an inspector of elections, HOAs must now ensure the inspector retains additional election materials, such as candidate registration and voter lists, for one year following the election process.

In addition to all the new requirements HOAs must abide by, associations needing to amend their election operating rules must now do so no later than 90 days before an election. So, for those HOAs with elections after the first of the year, time is of the essence. HOAs must act quickly to ensure upcoming elections are conducted in accordance with California’s extensive new requirements, or, they could find their election results overturned for legal noncompliance.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Nicole Clowdsley at [email protected].